Many systems have been developed for processing data sequences representing images. Several such systems, referred to herein as image enhancement systems, have been provided for obtaining data representing images, i.e., image data, wherein the image may represent physical features of a biological specimen. As examples, image enhancement systems have been developed for obtaining images of internal organs of a patient in a non-intrusive manner, for example, nuclear magnetic resonance devices, ultrasound imaging, CAT scan imaging, etc. These devices are typically used for capturing and processing data to provide an image of a functional system of a patient, as for example, the patient's heart, lungs, etc. The processing of the image data performed by these devices is primarily to insure the accuracy and clarity of the resulting image.
Other systems, referred to herein as image analysis systems, have been provided for obtaining image data of specimens taken from a patient. As examples, devices have been provided for obtaining image data representing blood cells, bone marrow cells, brain cells, etc. These systems are typically designed to capture and process image data to determine characteristics of the specimen, as for example, blood cell count. The processing of the image data performed by these systems are primarily to analyze the image data for determining whether the specimen exhibits the characteristic.
In any of the foregoing imaging systems, a large amount of data is typically required to accurately represent the image. Also, in order to obtain meaningful information from the captured image data, a large number of data processing steps must be performed. This is true whether the processing is performed to enhance the image data, as is done in image enhancement systems, or whether the processing is performed to analyze the image data, as is done in image analysis systems.
Due to the large number of data processing operations required, designers of these systems have attempted to provide circuits for processing the image data in a pipelined and parallel fashion, i.e., continuously and simultaneously, so that data throughput can be increased and thereby the time required to perform the image enhancement or image analysis can be reduced. However, the effectiveness of prior pipelined and parallel processing circuits has been limited due to the inability of prior circuitry to adequately route data between the memory devices and the processing circuits. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide method and apparatus for effectively routing data between memory devices and a plurality of processing circuits to enhance the throughput of pipelined and parallel image processing circuitry.
With particular respect to image analysis systems, it is often desirable to be able to process segments of the image data stored in memory, wherein the segments represent a portion of the image. It is further desirable to be able to provide image data in a manner so that the boundary of the image is clearly defined. Providing image data in this manner enables faster evaluation of the image data. Accordingly it is desirable to provide apparatus for routing image data between memory devices and a plurality of processing circuits wherein the apparatus is constructed to select any portion of the stored image data and to clearly identify the boundary of the image portions selected.